Mechanisms and methods for the production and treatment of napped fabrics



Nov. 29, 1966 G. w. LEMIEUX 3,288,103

MECHANISMS AND METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT OF NAPPED FABRICS Filed Jan. 2, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 29, 1966 G. w. LEMIEUX MECHANISMS AND METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT OF NAPPED FABRICS 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Filed Jan. 2, 1964 INVENTOR. GfiO/FG? WLEM/fiUX 4 TI'OANEYS United States Patent 3,288,103 MECHANISMS AND METHUDS FOR THE PRODUC- TION AND TREATMENT OF NAPPED FABRHCS George W. Lemieux, wannanoa, N.C., assignor to Beacon Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 335,307 1 Claim. (Cl. 118-68) This invention relates to the manufacture of napped textile fabric, particularly blankets, and more particularly to the novel napped fabric along with mechanisms and methods-for producing and treating same so as to produce and retain the freshly napped appearance and loft.

A problem has long been present of providing a napped fabric which will have a high loft nap of the proper density and which will retain this high loft nap throughout the life of the fabric by having enough resilience to return to its original state after normal use.

Napped fabrics heretofore have been mapped and treated in various ways to improve the nap, to retain the nap, or to provide resistance to shedding.

For the purpose of achieving the above desired characteristics, it has been proposed to nap the fabric by conventional napping practices. These prior practices were not satisfactory because they failed to produce the desired high nap and loft. Also, the fibers of the fabric were not opened up sufficiently to be receptive to suitable chemical treatment for retaining the nap and preventing shedding and shrinking.

Also, for the purpose of achieving the above desired characteristics, it has heretofore been proposed to treat the fabric with various chemicals for retaining the original nap and preventing shedding or the like. These prior treating practices included feeding of the freshly napped fabric by conventional means,'such as plain rollers, which would crush the nap. The fabric was then sprayed with a liquid of a kind such as to chemically or physically change the character of the individual fibers. The wetted fabric had to be again napped to open up the fibers to facilitate the penetration of the liquid throughout because the conventional feeding practices had substantially crushed the loft of the nap. Following napping, the fabric was heated and cured. While such treatments have resulted in some favorable characteristics they have failed to provide all the desirable characteristics necessary to an acceptable product.

The results of these prior types of operations and treatments have made the resulting napped fabric dense and felt-like, it decreased the loft or height of the nap, or produced a nap which was matted and had a crust-like surface. The fabric failed to have the proper denseness of upstanding fibers and the proper resilience to retain the freshly napped appearance after it had been crushed or mashed in the normal use of the fabric. This resulting fabric had a distinctly different appearance and feel from that which was desirable.

This invention provides mechanisms and methods which will nap the fabric in a novel manner to obtain the desired hi-gh loft and which will feed the napped fabric through the chemical treating to suitably retain this high loft.

The napping mechanism of this invention comprises a driven main cylindrical drum rotatably mounted and having a plurality of alternating driven pile and counterpile rolls rotatably mounted around the circumference thereof. The napping mechanism further includes a driven entrance roll and a novel exit roll which is adjustable to assume various positions around the circumference of the main cylindrical drum and also various positions with respect to the radial distance towards and away from the main drum. The fabric introduced the napping mechanism around the driven entrance roll and caused to come into contact with the pile and counter-pile rolls which are being carried by the rotating main drum.

It has been found by this invention that the length of time that the fabric is in contact with the pile and counter-pile rolls and the pressure at which it is held against these rolls determines the loft of the nap given the fabric. These factors are controlled by the position of the exit roll and the speed of travel of the fabric, as will be explained in more detail hereinafter.

The novel feeding means of this invention for feed ing the freshly napped fabric through the treating mechanisms includes a pair of driven lead-in rolls covered with a napping clothing to prevent mashing down of the nap obtained in the napping machine. After the napped fabric has passed over these lead-in rolls, it is pinned onto two endless conveyor chains or-belts, having a plurality of pins thereon, at each longitudinal edge of the fabric web to convey the mapped fabric through the treating mechanism without destroying the loft of the nap to allow the fabric to absorb a sufficient amount of chemical to eliminate the necessity for further napping.

Further features of the invention will be understood from a consideration of the following more detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the napping mechanisms;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the treating mechanisms;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top view of a section of the endless conveyor chains of belts showing the mapped fabric pinned thereon.

Referring to FIG. 1, a continuous fabric web 10 is led from any convenient source of supply into the novel napping mechanisms of this invention, generally indicated at 11. The web It is led over tension bars 12, under idler roll 34, over stationary drum 35, and under tension roll 36 to maintain the proper tension in the web 10 as it approaches the napping mechanism 11. The tension roll 36 has an adjustable drag braking device (not shown) which can be adjusted to vary the tension on the web 10 as it approaches the napping mecha nism 11.

The napping mechanism 11 comprises a driven main cylindrical drum 13 of a length somewhat greater than the width of the fabric web 10 and driven in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1. This main cylindrical drum 13 has a plurality of alternating, driven, cylindrical pile rolls 14 and counter-pile rolls 15 rotatably mounted by any convenient means around the circumference thereof, approximately the same length as the main drum. 13. These rolls 14- and 15 are driven in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 1. The pile rolls 14- are covered with a pin clothing having a plurality of pins *16 thereon which are bent at approximately 45 degree angles to the left as viewed in FIG. 1. The counter-pile rolls are similarly covered with a pin clothing having a plurality of pins 17 thereon which are bent at approximately 45 degree angles to the right as viewed in FIG. 1.

The napping mechanism 11 further includes a driven entrance roll 18 and an adjustable exit roll 19. The speed of the driven entrance roll 18 may be adjusted by any convenient means to vary the speed of travel of the web 10 through the napping mechanism 11. The exit roll 19 is movably mounted on a curved bracket 20 which has the same radium of curvature as the main drum 13 so that the position of the exit roll 19 may be varied around a portion of the circumference of the main drum 13. The curved bracket 20 is in turn movably mounted on a slide 21 so that the bracket 20 and the exit roll 19 are movable toward or away from the main drum 13 along a radial axis of the main drum.

In operation, the continuous web 1t is fed into the napping mechanism 11 by driven entrance roll 18 to be brought into contact with the pile and counter-pile rolls 14 and 15 as they are being driven in the direction of the arrows on driven main drums 13 so that as the material passes over these rolls, the pins 16 and 17 will nap the fabric to the desired high loft.

The length of time the web is in contact with these pile and counter-pile rolls and the pressure at which the web of material is pressed against these rolls determines the degrees of loft in the nap. These factors are determined by the position of the exit roll 19, since if it is in a position to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1, the web 10 will remain in contact with the pile and counter-pile rolls 14 and longer or if it is in a position farther away radially from the main drum 13, as viewed in FIG. 1, the pressure at which the web 10 will be in contact with the pile and counter-pile rolls 14 and 15 will be decreased, and the speed of travel of the web 10 is determined by the speed of the entrance roll 13. Thus a wide variety of positions for the exit roll 19 and speeds of entrance roll 18 may be had to always ensure the desired loft of nap in the fabric regardless of the type or weight of the fabric being napped.

A position which has been found satisfactory for a common type of fabric, such as 3 lbs. blanket material, is 4 /2 inches from the outside circumference of the rolls 14 and 15 along a vertical, radial axis of the main drum 13. It has also been found that the best results may be obtained when the web of fabric 10* is fed through the napping mechanism 11 at a speed of 15 yards per minute. However, it may be found necessary to vary the speed for different types of fabrics, such as lighter or heavier weight fabrics.

The napped fabric is then fed away from the mechanism 11 by a feed roll 37 and collected by any suitable means for introduction into the treating mechanisms.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the napped, continuous web of fabric 10 is introduced to the treating mechanisms, generally referred to at 22, by passing around novel feed rolls 23 and 24. These feed rolls 23 and 24 are covered with a pin clothing to retain the high loft of the nap given the fabric in the napping mechanism. The pin clothing of the rolls 23 and 24 contain only short straight pins in contrast to the long bent pins of the pile and counter-pile rolls 14 and 15 and are not intended to further nap the already napped fabric 10, but to merely prevent crushing of the nap during feeding.

After the napped fabric web 10 has passed around the feed rolls '23 and 24, it will come into contact with and be carried forward through the remainder of the treating mechanisms by a pair of endless conveyor chains or belts 25 having a plurality of upstanding pins 26 thereon. The pins 26 and conveyor chains 25 will engage the web at each longitudinal edge, as shown in part in FIG. 3. This method of conveying will prevent any crushing of the nap in the napped fabric which might occur if the fabric was fed through the treating mechanisms by feed rolls 'or the like which would contact the napped surface.

The napped fabric Web 10 is then led into a fogging or spraying chamber 27 by conveyor chains 25. The chamber 27 is equipped with a plurality of atomizers or sprayers 28 which will adequately saturate the napped fabric with a suitable chemical to such an extent as to eliminate any further napping and when dried will coat the individual fibers in the napped fabric to cause them to adhere somewhat to each other and provide the necessary resilience to suitably retain the original nap and prevent excessive shedding of the material. This saturation is possible because of the high loft of nap produced by the napping mechanism 11 and the preservation of this nap by the feed rolls 23 and 24 and conveyor chains 25.

The speed at which the napped fabric is conveyed through the chamber 27 will determine to a large extent the degree of saturation which the napped fabric will obtain in the chamber. It is important that the fabric obtain the right amount of saturation because if it obtains too much saturation, the resulting product will have a crusty, heavy appearance, and if it obtains too little saturation, the resulting product will not have the sufiicient resilience to retain the desired high loft of the nap required. It has been found that treated fabric should contain about 7 /2 percent by weight of the chemical. It has also been found that this saturation of 7 /2 percent by weight of the chemical may be obtained when treating a common type of fabric, such as 3 lbs. blanket material, referred to above, by conveying the fabric through the chamber at approximately 30 yards per minute. However, it will be understood that this speed will be varied in accordance with the type and weight of fabric being treated.

Following this treatment, the wetted, napped fabric web 10 is conveyed by the chains 25 through a curing and heating oven 29. This curing and heating oven 29 may be a conventional tente-r frame type curing oven. This fabric web 10 is dried and the chemical is cured in this oven 29. It has been found that the 3 lbs. blanket material is dried and cured satisfactorily when the oven 29 maintains a temperature of approximately 300 F. and the web 10 is conveyed at approximately 30 yards per minute. However, this temperature and speed might have to be varied according to the type and weight of the fabric being dried and cured.

Following drying and curing, the fabric is then taken off of the pin conveyor chains or belts 25 and collected by any suitable means.

The fabric web has now been napped to provide the desired high loft and has been conveyed and fed through the chemical treating to retain this desired high loft and to eliminate the necessity for further napping.

The invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

A mechanism for chemically treating a napped fabric to retain the original loft and height of its nap and prevent excessive shedding and shrinking thereof comprising:

(a) chemical treating means, receiving and allowing passage therethrough of said napped fabric, for saturating said napped fabric with a suitable chemical adapted upon curing to retain said original loft and nap and prevent excessive shedding;

(b) heating and curing means adapted to dry and cure said chemically treated napped fabric; and

(c) feeding and conveying means adapted to feed and convey the napped fabric through said chemical treating means and said heating and curing means to prevent destroying by crushing the original loft and height of the nap whereby the necessity for further napping is eliminated, said feeling and conveying means comprising:

(1) a pair of feed rolls disposed in advance of said chemical treating means and having coverings thereon including a plurality of short pins which support said napped fabric and (2) a pair of endless conveyor chains adapted to receive the napped fabric from said pair of feed rolls and having a plurality of upstanding pins attached thereto along the length thereof to engage said napped fabric along only its longitudinal edges and operable to so convey said napped fabric through said chemical treating means and said heating and curing means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Spencer 118--34 Brodeur 1177 Thal 262 X Bertrand 26-33 Spencer 2874 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, H. S. JAUDON,

Assistant Examiners. 

